{"id":1719,"date":"2016-10-23T21:30:33","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T20:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1719"},"modified":"2016-10-23T21:30:33","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T20:30:33","slug":"week-42-irkas-visit-villajoyosa-hostal-maruja-gibraltar","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1719","title":{"rendered":"Week 42: Irka’s visit, Villajoyosa, Hostal Maruja, Gibraltar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lots of pictures this week, because I was out and about a lot, my sister and brother-in-law were visiting from Poland, and we also had a trip to Gibraltar at the end of the week. And then of course there were the usual activities of working, cycling and walking Cheeta.<\/p>\n

42_1<\/strong>
\nI started the week with a bike ride to the Carrasqueta mountain pass. The views were stunning as usual. I photograph the view almost every time, simply because it is so pretty and because the light is always changing:
\n\"R000334\"<\/p>\n

42_2<\/strong>
\nThere were a lot of other cyclists on this pretty autumn day. Here are some getting photographed under the sign indicating the altitude of the pass:
\n\"R000333\"<\/p>\n

42_3<\/strong>
\nSuddenly, a posse of mountainbikers appeared:
\n\"R000337\"<\/p>\n

42_4<\/strong>
\nI belong to the road cyclist tribe, but these guys were going to take the shortcut down:
\n\"R000338\"<\/p>\n

42_5<\/strong>
\nThis is truly hardcore:
\n\"R000342\"<\/p>\n

42_6<\/strong>
\nIn the afternoon, I drove to Villajoyosa with my sister, first stopping at Platja Bon Nou. There were still a few people but nothing like a month ago:
\n\"DSF2701\"<\/p>\n

42_7<\/strong>
\n\"DSF2702\"<\/p>\n

42_8<\/strong>
\nThen we drove into town and walked a bit on the seaside promenade, where there is a statue of some great man from Villajoyosa’s past:
\n\"DSF2720\"<\/p>\n

42_9<\/strong>
\nMy sister and brother-in-law enjoy a beer on the beach, quite a treat for mid-October for someone who lives in Poland, where it is now cold and rainy:
\n\"DSF2722\"<\/p>\n

42_10<\/strong>
\nWe walked around some more. I liked these children sitting in front of one of the coloured houses for which Villajoyosa is famous:
\n\"DSF2722\"<\/p>\n

42_11<\/strong>
\nThe streets behind the beach promenade are a bit less polished:
\n\"DSF2714\"<\/p>\n

42_12<\/strong>
\nMy visitors spent much of their time on our downstairs terrace. My brother-in-law loves the pool, and my sister would just hang out with him there. Here she is, having a snack with a very interested dog looking on:
\n\"R000347\"<\/p>\n

42_13<\/strong>
\nCheeta’s efforts were not in vain:
\n\"R000350\"<\/p>\n

42_14<\/strong>
\nMeanwhile, Telesfor does his thing in the pool:
\n\"R000346\"<\/p>\n

42_15<\/strong>
\nOn Monday my team went for lunch at Moments, the excuse being that our Czech trainee Adela had completed her internship, so we wanted to give her a nice send-off:
\n\"DSF2731\"<\/p>\n

42_16<\/strong>
\nAs usual, there was good food and nice conversation, here with Carolina and Micha\u00c5\u201a, two very good economists that I am fortunate to have working with me:
\n\"DSF2735\"<\/p>\n

42_17<\/strong>
\nThere was delicious fresh bread for us:
\n\"DSF2738\"<\/p>\n

42_18<\/strong>
\n…and for the birdies:
\n\"DSF2742\"<\/p>\n

42_19<\/strong>
\nWednesday was a public holiday, so of course I started the day on two wheels. While passing El Campello, I came across a somewhat unusual sight–a group of camel drivers on the main road. They were getting ready for the town’s Moros y Cristianos festivities:
\n\"R000354\"<\/p>\n

42_20<\/strong>
\n\"R000355\"<\/p>\n

42_21<\/strong>
\n\"R000359\"<\/p>\n

42_22<\/strong>
\nIn the afternoon, we went for lunch at Hostal Maruja, a place they love:
\n\"DSF2766\"<\/p>\n

42_23<\/strong>
\nThe Hostal Maruja terrace as seen from the beach:
\n\"DSF2757\"<\/p>\n

42_24<\/strong>
\nOne of the many pleasures about eating at Hostal Maruja is to watch the people on the beach. Couples:
\n\"DSF2754\"<\/p>\n

42_25<\/strong>
\nA family:
\n\"DSF2758\"<\/p>\n

42_26<\/strong>
\nMy sister takes a swig of her beer:
\n\"DSF2761\"<\/p>\n

42_27<\/strong>
\nOf course, the food is what counts. Here are the patatas bravas<\/em>, with sardines a la plancha<\/em> and chipirones<\/em> in the background:
\n\"DSF2752\"<\/p>\n

42_28<\/strong>
\nAnd here we have boquerones<\/em> (anchovies) and sepia a la plancha<\/em>:
\n\"DSF2753\"<\/p>\n

42_29<\/strong>
\nTo finish it off, homemade flan<\/em>:
\n\"DSF2767\"<\/p>\n

42_30<\/strong>
\nContinuing with the food porn, on my request my sister made pierogi<\/em>, one of my favourite Polish dishes. Basically, dumplings stuffed with potatoes, fried onions and cottage cheese. Pure delight:
\n\"R000362\"<\/p>\n

42_31<\/strong>
\nThursday was my sister’s 71st birthday. Hard to believe, but then again I am turning 56 in a couple of weeks…She is keeping well, and wakes up early, as I do, so most mornings we had coffee together around 6:30 a.m.:
\n\"DSF2776\"<\/p>\n

42_32<\/strong>
\nWe were going to celebrate at home that evening, so on my way home from work I stopped by a vegan bakery called Tres Semillas to pick up a chocolate cake my wife had ordered. Monica had come over from Cardiff, so we wanted a vegan cake. My sister’s name is Irena, but in Polish we use diminutives a lot, so in the family it becomes Irka:
\n\"DSF2778\"<\/p>\n

42_33<\/strong>
\nIrka and Telesfor immediately after blowing out the candles:
\n\"DSF2792\"<\/p>\n

42_34<\/strong>
\nA few years ago Jim Shulman gifted me this great t-shirt. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I have lost about 25 kg since then, so it no longer fits me. But it fits my brother-in-law Telesfor perfectly:
\n\"DSF2785\"<\/p>\n

42_35<\/strong>
\nMonica has a cute outfit as well. This is Thursday evening, we are enjoying drinks on the back porch after dinner:
\n\"DSF2784\"<\/p>\n

42_36<\/strong>
\nFriday morning, while walking Cheeta, I had some nice clouds and light at sunrise over our neighbourhood:
\n\"DSF2796\"<\/p>\n

Friday after lunch, we drove the 600 km to Gibraltar to meet my son and his girlfriend, who were there to attend a wedding. Since Moses now works on Long Island, we do not see him often; in fact, I had not seen him since Christmas, and I had never met his girlfriend Myrela (who is doing her PhD at Columbia University in New York). So we had a lot of good reasons to spend the weekend in Gibraltar.<\/p>\n

42_37<\/strong>
\nOn the way south, we stopped to fuel the car with diesel and ourselves with coffee. There were a couple of resident kitties to photograph:
\n\"DSF2800\"<\/p>\n

42_38<\/strong>
\nWe arrived at our hotel and turned in. On Saturday morning, I was out early as usual:
\n\"DSF2803\"<\/p>\n

42_39<\/strong>
\nI went for a walk along Main Street:
\n\"DSF2804\"<\/p>\n

42_40<\/strong>
\nTo the very end:
\n\"DSF2808\"<\/p>\n

42_41<\/strong>
\nSomewhat seedy:
\n\"DSF2814\"<\/p>\n

42_42<\/strong>
\nGovernment building:
\n\"DSF2810\"<\/p>\n

42_43<\/strong>
\nMusketeer:
\n\"DSF2806\"<\/p>\n

42_44<\/strong>
\nMonica told me that this cute vacuum cleaner is a UK cultural icon:
\n\"DSF2824\"<\/p>\n

42_45<\/strong>
\nOn Saturday morning, we met up with Moses and Myrela for breakfast at our hotel:
\n\"R000375\"<\/p>\n

42_46<\/strong>
\nAfterwards, we toured Gibraltar with Moses. Myrela was a bridesmaid at the wedding so she was busy prettying herself for the ceremony. On Main street, we ran across this:
\n\"DSF2829\"<\/p>\n

42_47<\/strong>
\nWe took the cable car to the top of the Rock. This is the view of Gibraltar, including the airport runway right in the middle of the city:
\n\"DSF2917\"<\/p>\n

42_48<\/strong>
\nMy daughter taking a picture of a fellow primate:
\n\"DSF2923\"<\/p>\n

42_49<\/strong>
\nIn the afternoon, Moses dressed up for the wedding and we parted our ways for the rest of the day:
\n\"DSF2931\"<\/p>\n

42_50<\/strong>
\nBut brother and sister continued to be in contact:
\n\"DSF2933\"<\/p>\n

More pictures of Gibraltar can be seen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lots of pictures this week, because I was out and about a lot, my sister and brother-in-law were visiting from Poland, and we also had a trip to Gibraltar at the end of the week. And then of course there were the usual activities of working, cycling and walking Cheeta. 42_1 I started the week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1535,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1719"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1719"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1722,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1719\/revisions\/1722"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}